Effects Of Love In The Crucible

Abigail’s obsession with John Proctor is a main cause of her accusations. Before the play starts, John Proctor and Abigail had an affair with each other, but he soon realizes the mistakes he has made, saying that he “may think of [her] softly from time to time. But [he] will cut off [his] hand before [he’ll] ever reach for

Abigail is a highly jealous character, concentrating her jealousy on Elizabeth Proctor. This jealousy is driven by lust and her desire for John Proctor. Abigail served as a servant in the Proctor household and after an affair with her husband John, Elizabeth fired her. She still resents Elizabeth for this as she is still in love with John. She clearly says to John, "You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!" Abigail is still in love with John and she assumes the converse. Her love for John only causes her resentment for Elizabeth to strengthen. She hates John Proctor's wife and in her conniving ways she attempts to inspire the same views of Elizabeth in John's mind. Saying things to him such as, "She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me, She is a cold, sniveling woman." Abigail fabricates stories in attempt to steel John from Elizabeth. She is a manipulative liar that does and says as she pleases in order to get what she wants.

He feels that he can never be with Abigail again. He is haunted by this because when he talks to her, he is nervous. “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched” (Page 22). In this quote, two betrayals are revealed by Proctor. First, his betrayal of his wife and second his betrayal of Abigail.  These two betrayals are crucial to the play seeing as it is due to Proctor’s betrayal of his wife, by cheating on her, and his betrayal of Abigail, by leaving her without taking responsibility, that initiated the conflict. Furthermore, because Proctor is not willing to admit his deceit, both he and his wife got caught in disorder. Ultimately, Proctor’s betrayal and dishonesty lead to his downfall.

Abigail proclaims her guilt by revealing her character and purpose. She is mad in love with John Proctor, and attempts to sway his feelings for her. She speaks to him with a brimming passion, and even cries for his attention (Arthur Miller, The Crucible, Act I, 21,22). Even though Proctor is a married man, she strives to make him fall in love with her. Proctor’s wife Elizabeth asserts that, “...She (Abigail) cannot pass you in church but you will blush” and she believes he blushes, feeling the guilt of being too close to Abigail while she is beside him (Act II, 58,59). Abigail’s conduct is improper and shows her obvious guilt.

Foils in The Crucible In literature, a character’s true personality is revealed through the use of foils. A foil is a minor character that contrasts with a main character and highlights his or her particular characteristics. They are found in movies, television shows, novels, and plays. Foils can reveal both positive and negative traits. Throughout The Crucible, literary foils reveal the true personalities of many characters.

Abigail Williams is a 17 year old girl whose parents were murdered, so Parris has taken care of her since they’ve been murdered. She had worked for the Proctor’s as their servant, but she was fired by Elizabeth Proctor. John Proctor was having an affair with Abigail until Elizabeth had discovered what they’ve been doing so she fired Abigail. John knew he was sinning and this sin would ruin him. He realized that he loves his wife Elizabeth, so he stop seeing Abigail for love. Abigail was upset that he didn’t love her, so the only way for her to have him was to get rid of Elizabeth from his life. Abigail tried to get rid of Mrs. Proctor by dancing in the woods and talking to the Devil. In act one Betty screams out the truth about the night and what Abigail’s plan was. She said “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor.” (pg

Since Abigail is the Reverends niece and grew up with a pastor in the household it seems as if she should be very humble and a good person but her human nature took a toll making her greedy therefore making her dishonest and deceptive. She is afraid that people won’t agree with her, that motivates her to get people on her side. She then falsely accuses others of witchcraft and her being the victim. Witchcraft was taken very seriously back then and it ended up ripping apart the town and caused non stop fighting by almost everyone. Abigail’s main motive is John Proctor so she tries to lie to John about his wife to get him to fall for her “She is blackening my name in the village she is telling lies about me she’s a cold swiveling

Argumentatively, Abigail is an adulterer looking for retribution against her lover’s wife, but underneath that her actions are narcissistic. The abundant need for self-preservation becomes obvious when presented with evidence from the beginning of the play. Abigail depicts these characteristics when asked about Elizabeth Proctor’s departure from church services and Abigail’s own displacement from Elizabeth’s home, “She hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman!” (Miller 12). She refuses to acknowledge that her own actions are wrongful and places blame on others, “My name is good in the

First and foremost, Abigail is obsessive. Evidence for this is shown when she refuses to believe that her relationship with John Proctor is over. In a heated argument she openly states, “You love me John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!”(Miller 146). Not only does this statement prove she is head over heels for John but that she does not care at all that he has a wife. She even tries to guilt the poor man into continuing the love affair. Abigail tries to get Elizabeth out of the picture by falsely accusing her of witchcraft, so she can have John to herself.

Then under the care of her uncle, Parris, during her employment at the Proctor's household, she fell in love and had an affair with John Proctor. However her love was unrequited, despite misguided impressions that John loved her. These dire events in Abigail's life led to her manipulative, selfish yet desperate nature and this nature is what empowered Abigail to 'cry witch'. Miller's portrayal of Abigail endears with her language displaying hysteria, power, love, and the harsh reality of her childhood, all of which were factors empowering her to impel the trials. These factors are demonstrated in both the dialogue and the stage directions accompanying them.

B. Establish Controversy : Love is a main idea that is repeated throughout The Crucible, a 1953 play by playwright Arthur Miller. The Crucible is a play set in Salem Massachusetts in 1692-1693 and is an allegory for McCarthy Hearings which took place in the 1950s. The play focuses on the 1950s human need for norm, the puritanical fear of witches and the inconsistencies of the Salem Witch Trials. Hysteria breaks out in Salem when the minister of Salem Reverend Parris catches his niece Abigail and daughter Betty in the woods with paraphernalia essential to conjuring spirits and Betty becoming mysteriously ill. Parris worries about Betty’s condition and summons Reverend Hale who investigates witchcraft and the suspicions of the illness but indubitably finds witchcraft imperceptible after reflection of the motives. This illness manifests fear throughout the residences of Salem and Abigail deviously exploits this fear by accusing villagers to vindicate herself from any accusations of witchcraft. In doing so she becomes the prime accuser for the Theocracy. Jealousy and grudges empower the hysteria which leads to the death of an abundant amount of Salem’s innocent population. One of the most noteworthy jealousy in the play is Abigail’s envy of John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor’s marriage because of an affair that took place.

After having an affair with John Proctor, she couldn’t accept not being without him. Abigail also admires “how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife” like Elizabeth be unaware of the affair she had with John Proctor(act1pg#). As a result to the affair, Proctor is trying to rebuild his marriage with his wife. Abigail continues to intervene in John Proctors marriage and attempts to manipulate Proctor so he would confess his love for her. Proctor admits his love for her, but does not continue his affection because Abigail seeps of vengeance for other individuals. He portrays her “as a lump of vanity” who thinks to dance on his “wife’s grave!”(act 3). For her own selfish desires, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft and tries to intentionally sabotage her. She does this for the purpose of her own selfish and fictitious relationship that she has with Proctor. Abigail believes she has the capability to influence Proctor, but her egoistic actions to win his undefining love makes her appear as the criminal in the

A great noble person who happen to have some flaws in them, those flaws happen to make them make a bad decision and turns into a mistake very quickly that same mistake happens to become his weakness that makes this person suffer greatly through everything happening. John Proctor comes to mind he fits that description perfectly. John Proctor has made a terrible mistake in his past and it is gonna be part of the cause of the whole accident going on. John Proctor is a very noble person, he helps his town in many different ways. John Proctor built the door of the church, goes into town when he is needed.

Abigail starts the conversation with bitter anger “Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be-” Proctor interrupts angry as well “You’ll speak nothin’ of Elizabeth!” “she is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her!

In this scenario, it is easier to portray Abigail as emotionally unstable than John Proctor as it seems to sit better with audiences that a young girl would be more likely to act irrationally for the sake of love than a man. Yet, this doesn’t seem to sit right at all when these tired and gendered stereotypes are set aside. John Proctor had been just as involved in the affair as Abigail and while he might not have as intense an emotional connection, he must feel something regarding their relationship. As it is written, it appears that he feels nothing at all except anger, which only comes as a reaction to Abigail’s over-emotional state. From here on, once the audience has established her to be excessively emotional, she becomes a pawn for Arthur Miller to use throughout the rest of the play to drive the hysteria of the witch hunt and, therefore, the plot along.